INDEPENDENTS DAY

On the 27th of August 2016 the people of the Northern Territory will most likely again see the rise of the independents and quite possible be faced with having a minority government for the next 4 years.

The steady rise of independents at both federal and state level is a trend that is not going to go away anytime soon. Northern Territory Executive Director of the Property Council Ruth Palmer said.

“Their rise coincides with the steady decline in popularity of the major political parties both Labor and the Country Liberal Party.

“One of the major reasons behind the rise of the independents is the candidate’s focus; independents tend to focus on specific local issues, whilst the major political party’s candidates focus on winning government and sculpt their campaign accordingly.

“It is no secret that Darwin City is currently in the doldrums, with the likely future trend to be even worse.

“In this election period, you would be mistaken to think that the major parties - or at least their candidates for Port Darwin would be falling over themselves to campaign policies to arrest the decline, however, all that’s been forth coming is either misguided ‘sugar hits’ or silence.

“The independents on the other hand have been strongly voicing their policies to improve the city.

“While you could question the effectiveness of their policies, the one thing you cannot question is that they are listening to their constituents and genuinely care about Darwin City.

“It will be interesting to see this election whether Port Darwin will simply be making up the numbers come the 27th of August 2016, or it takes a chance on an independent.

“One thing that we know for sure is that it’s a long four year wait until the major party politicians will come around ‘listening’ again.”